NBU explains checks of transactions of individual clients of PrivatBank by Kroll's investigation

10:31, 12.02.2018

The National Bank of Ukraine after the forensic audit of PrivatBank by Kroll company has requested information about financial transactions of over 6,000 individuals, and around 50 of whom are shareholders and managers of various levels of the 1+1 media holding belonged to former owner of PrivatBank, Deputy NBU Governor Kateryna Rozhkova has said.

"During the investigation a series of smaller operations that could have signs of illegal operations like money laundering, tax evasion and others was revealed. The National Bank is obliged to verify these operations and either to refute these signs or confirm them," she said at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday, February 9.

Rozhkova said that the regulator has no authority to disclose data on these individuals.

Commenting on the publication of the document on the Internet with a request for financial transactions of about 50 individuals associated with "1+1", the deputy head of the National Bank said that an investigation would be scheduled.

"We will look for those who leaked the information," she said, adding that the document in this publication is not registered, and looks like a draft.

The Deputy Head of the National Bank gave two examples of suspicious operations. In the first case an individual, using the credit card of PrivatBank, paid UAH 622 million for playing in a casino outside of Ukraine, which, according to Rozhkova, is normal in itself.

"The repayment of the loan was carried out by private persons in the territory of Ukraine. They were very different individuals, absolutely not related to the cardholder: not relatives and not workers. The analysis of the financial transactions of these individuals showed that they had no official sources to provide this financial assistance to repay the loan. This is a classic example of a violation of the law," the representative of the regulator said.

She took as a second example the transfer of about $40 million to a state-owned energy company through a series of transactions to the accounts of companies opened in the Cyprus branch of PrivatBank, beneficiaries of which were individuals "who appear on our list." According to her, then the funds were actually used for personal needs of these individuals.

Rozhkova said that among other suspicious transactions that require verification is the registering of capital or subordinated debt of subsidiaries of PrivatBank in other jurisdictions.